AT&T/Time-Warner merger

[nomadcowatbk]

I don't see that this merger is any worse than the Comcast/NBC/Universal merger (which should not have been permitted either).

it's about the concentration of cotent, and possibly AT&T charging data to stream Toy Story from a Disney service but not Looney Toons from their service with no net neutrality

 

[TheBigA]

it's about the concentration of cotent, and possibly AT&T charging data to stream Toy Story from a Disney service but not Looney Toons from their service with no net neutrality

If that was such a concern, the administration should have kept net neutrality. It would have been a lot cheaper than an 8 month trial.

It's not too late to reverse that decision.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

If that was such a concern, the administration should have kept net neutrality. It would have been a lot cheaper than an 8 month trial.

It's not too late to reverse that decision.

it was all about fake news CNN

 

[Ccook55]

AT&T is changing Time-Warner's name to WarnerMedia.

 

[TheBigA]

AT&T is changing Time-Warner's name to WarnerMedia.

Which makes sense since the "Time" part of the company has already been sold off to Meredith.

 

[TheBigA]

One other change at WarnerMedia was the exit of the Turner Broadcasting CEO. Now the CNN President will report directly to the CEO of WarnerMedia. Here's an interview with John Stankey about CNN:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/n...-has-special-social-responsibility/ar-AAyHuRR

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/07/att-changing-hbo/564635/

Update as Warner Media adapts to new leadership at AT&T.

 

[TheBigA]

Interesting article, but I don't understand what the writer of the story finds "troubling." If the goal is to create more original programming, that's a good thing. If the goal is to make it less boutique and more mainstream, that's already happened, based on the Emmy Awards the channel wins. The audience will determine the future. The audience built Netflix and Netflix responded. All Stankey is doing is responding to the audience.

 

[zeebre12]

Does this mean there won't be any more AT&T original series on Audience and Audience will be shut down?

 

[TheBigA]

Does this mean there won't be any more AT&T original series on Audience and Audience will be shut down?

That's an interesting question. Under the terms of the AT&T merger with Warner, they agreed to run DirecTV as an independent company. The Audience Network is a product of DirecTV, while HBO is a product of Warner Media. Two different CEOs. So my guess is that Audience will continue, and HBO will expand original programming.

 

[umfan]

https://www.arcamax.com/business/businessnews/s-2101091?fs

As this column makes clear, AT&T just flat out lied during the trial about lower prices resulting from the merger. Their actions, so close on the heels of Judge Leon's joke of a decision, is a Christmas present to DoJ who can, and will use this in an appeal to overturn the merger.

 

[TheBigA]

How did the merger cause the price increase?

Because Sirius has increased its subscription price several times since its merger with XM, and that hasn't come up with the DOJ.

 

[TheBigA]

So today the DOJ announces it will appeal the decision, although it didn't refer to the DirecTV situation:


https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/12/media/att-time-warner-justice-department-appeal/index.html

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ime-warner-deal-on-solid-ground-idUSKBN1K31PY

Update on the Warner Media/ AT&T Deal

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has only a remote chance of overturning AT&T Inc’s takeover of Time Warner, Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said on Friday, while warning the case could affect bidding for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.

Shares of AT&T fell 1.9 percent to $31.61 in afternoon trading, after U.S. officials signaled they would appeal a federal judge’s approval last month of the acquisition of the media firm.

SPONSORED


Speaking on CNBC, Stephenson said the original court decision was well reasoned and AT&T would continue to execute its plans.

“At the end of the day the law was on our side,” he said. “We think the likelihood of this thing being reversed or overturned is really remote.”

The $85.4 billion deal, first announced in October 2016, was opposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. AT&T was sued by the Justice Department on antitrust grounds, but won approval from a U.S. district court following a lengthy trial.

Credit rating agency Fitch said in a statement it believes the original decision will be upheld, but acknowledged the three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals could have a different view. Moody’s said in a statement AT&T’s credit ratings remain unchanged.

Makan Delrahim, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, recently defended the decision to file its initial lawsuit last year, saying it was the “largest telecommunications merger in history.”

“In AT&T-Time Warner, litigation was not the Division’s first choice. The Division made multiple settlement offers involving divestitures, but the parties offered and would accept only so-called “behavioral” remedies involving promises to refrain from anticompetitive conduct,” Delrahim wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Times on Thursday.

 

[TheBigA]

Here's another article on the appeal. Turns out it's going to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/un...-looks-like-a-long-shot-1531509166?mod=hp_RTA

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Here's another article on the appeal. Turns out it's going to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/un...-looks-like-a-long-shot-1531509166?mod=hp_RTA

Dang I remember in some of the op-eds if the At&t and Warner media deal gets derailed then other proposed merger deals like Fox/Sky/Disney /Comcast talks could get derailed, Sinclair/Tribune talks, the Gray/Raycom talks and the CBS/National Amusements/ Viacom talks get derailed.

 

[Megatron]

Glad that DOJ is finally appealing why did it take so long they should have done it ASAP and not have let the evil empire AT&T & Time Warner merge already hoping the next judge will rule in favor of the government. Unlike Judge, Leon going to work for AT&T and Warner Media since he gave them a gift still doesn't know jack about the law either.

 

[davideduardo]

Glad that DOJ is finally appealing why did it take so long they should have done it ASAP and not have let the evil empire AT&T & Time Warner merge already hoping the next judge will rule in favor of the government. Unlike Judge, Leon going to work for AT&T and Warner Media since he gave them a gift still doesn't know jack about the law either.

All the comments I have seen indicate that this is a Hail Mary pass by the DoJ since there is really no precedent to stop a vertical integration merger which does not increase percentage of market at any step of the process.

 

[TheBigA]

already hoping the next judge will rule in favor of the government.

FYI it's a three-judge panel. Not just one judge. So the bar has been raised. One of the judges might be Brett Kavanaugh, who has been nominated for the Supreme Court. Don't know if he will still hear cases if he's been nominated for another court.

In the Barron's article I linked, they talked about what "conservative" means to a judge. They say it means the DOJ has a tough road ahead of it because typically conservatives like mergers and big business. It's usually the liberals who worry about too much media consolidation and what it means for consumers.

 

[umfan]

DoJ took time to prepare its appeal, likely betting that AT&T would be foolish enough to take steps, like those in the column I shared, that undercut its arguments at trial. Considering how poorly reasoned the judge's decision was, DoJ is likely to get the DC Court to require either undoing of the merger or for AT&T to negotiate divestitures. Stephenson was foolish to execute the merger ahead of the appeal. It'll likely lead to his firing.